Jason Momoa is happy Aquaman is going to be a ‘brown-skinned superhero’

Photo manip by rahzzah

Hollywood has been brave with hiring non-whites to play white comic book characters. We’ve seen this with Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin in Daredevil, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White in Man of Steel and Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm in the upcoming The Fantastic Four reboot. Jason Momoa is joining the list by playing Aquaman.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Momoa once again talks about bringing diversity to the comic book world and his excitement for the role.

“It’s awesome as an actor to know what your future is going to be because I have children and I’ve busted my ass to put food on the table,” he said. “It’s awesome knowing that I’m going to be in Justice League because my son is the biggest Batman fan and my daughter loves Wonder Woman. It’ll be cool for them to see me in something because they’re not going to be watching Game of Thrones or Red Road anytime soon, but now they can see Daddy kicking ass in IMAX.”

This is where Momoa talks about being a brown-skinned superhero.

“I’ve had to bust ass to be in this industry. A lot of things are very black and white,” he says. “Aquaman is especially cool because being a Kanaka Maoli—being Hawaiian—our Gods are Kanaloa and Maui, and the Earth is 71 percent water, so I get to represent that. And I’m someone who gets to represent all the islanders, not some blond-haired superhero. It’s cool that there’s a brown-skinned superhero.”

It was then mentioned how he was a lifeguard in Baywatch Hawaii. He talks about trying to break away from the series.

“It’s a trip. I spent 15 years trying to dig myself out of the Baywatch hole, and now I’m Aquaman. Life is very good.”

Jason Momoa will be Aquaman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on March 25, 2016. He’ll then appear in Justice League Part One on November 17, 2017. After that he’ll appear in a solo Aquaman movie on July 27, 2018.